The Pentagon wasted $28million on woodland camouflage uniforms for Afghan soldiers even though most of the country is desert.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that the Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak chose the expensive, privately-owned 'forest' color pattern instead of free camouflage schemes owned by the U.S. government.

The damning report notes that 'forests cover only 2.1 per cent of Afghanistan's total land area.'

The Pentagon wasted $28million on woodland camouflage uniforms (pictured) for Afghan soldiers even though most of the country is desert

In February 2007, U.S. officials training the Afghan army 'ran across' the camouflage from a company called HyperStealth and showed them to minister Wardak.

He 'liked what he saw' and 1,364,602 uniforms, as well as 88,010 extra pairs of pants, were purchased.

'My concern is what if the minister of defense liked purple, or liked pink?' John Sopko, the special inspector general, told USA TODAY in an interview.

'Are we going to buy pink uniforms for soldiers and not ask questions? That's insane. This is just simply stupid on its face.'

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'We wasted $28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion, because the defense minister thought that that pattern was pretty. So if he thought pink or chartreuse was it, would we have done that?'

The report added: 'Our analysis found that DOD's [Department of Defense] decision to procure ANA [Afghan National Army] uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern was not based on an evaluation of its appropriateness for the Afghan environment.

'DOD procured ANA uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern without determining the pattern's effectiveness in Afghanistan compared to other available patterns.

'My concern is what if the minister of defense liked purple, or liked pink?' said John Sopko (pictured), the special inspector general

'As a result, neither DOD nor the Afghan government knows whether the ANA uniform is appropriate to the Afghan environment, or whether it actually hinders their operations by providing a more clearly visible target to the enemy.

The report goes on: 'While we understand the importance of providing the ANA with a unique uniform that distinguishes it from its allies..., we are concerned with the way in which DOD approached requirement generation, validation, and procurement with respect to ANA uniforms.

We wasted $28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion, because the defense minister thought that that pattern was pretty

Special inspector general John Sopko

'Furthermore, DOD's lack of due diligence and its decision to purchase ANA uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern appear to have resulted in unit costs that are significantly higher than those for similar non-proprietary camouflaged uniforms, potentially costing the U.S. taxpayers an additional $26.65 million–$28.23 million since 2008.'

'Moreover, given our historical and pledged commitments supporting the continued development of the ANA, our analysis found that changing the ANA uniform to a non-proprietary camouflage pattern, similar to those procured for comparable ANP units, could save U.S. taxpayers between $68.61 million and $72.21 million over the next ten years.

'As a result, we suggest that a DOD organization with appropriate expertise in military uniforms conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the current ANA uniform specification to determine whether there is a more effective alternative, considering both operational environment and cost, available to the ANA.'

The damning report notes that 'forests cover only 2.1 per cent of Afghanistan's total land area.' Pictured, an Afghan soldier wearing an appropriately camouflaged uniform